The USA Callsign database contains about 750,000 listings and at any given
moment, approximately 30,000 of these callsigns are expired! Over 1,000 old
callsigns are returned to the unused pool each month!

The QRZ Expired Callsign Listings

These lists are updated daily to provide the latest information about callsigns
that have expired, those which are about to expire and those
that are about to be forfeited.

After a period of time, you might not be able to reinstate your privileges

Once your callsign is lost, anyone may apply for it under the vanity program

Disturbing, isn't it? Here are the facts:

Licenses are issued for 10 year terms. They may be renewed within 90 days
of their expiration date (no sooner). On the date of expiration,
your license becomes invalid and you may no longer
transmit until your license is renewed.

If your license should expire before being renewed, the FCC allows for
a two (2) year grace period during which you may renew your license
with no loss of class or privileges.
You may not transmit during the 2 year grace period.
This period exists only to preserve your callsign and license class while
awaiting renewal.

After the 2 year grace period expires, your license and old
callsign is forfeited. You must re-test in order to get a new license.
When the last day of the 2 year grace period passes,
anybody can apply for your old callsign under the vanity callsign rules.
To get your old callsign back, you must first take all of the necessary tests,
wait for your new callsign to be issued, and then you can apply
for your old callsign under the vanity program. If you're lucky, it will
not have been assigned to someone else yet.

Don't let this happen to you!

QRZ Wants to Help!

Every time your callsign is pulled up on the QRZ server, the system
checks your license expiration date. If your callsign has expired, or
is about to expire, the date will be shown in a blinking red color to
help alert you. Once your callsign has been renewed, the date will
stop blinking.